Related: Top 10 Media Trends According to comScore
Moving into the TV market, comScore says that the amount of time spent watching was up 7% in the fourth quarter.
comScore’s 2015 Cross-Platform Future in Focus report says that in viewing households, 1,004 hours were spent watching live TV, up from 936 hours a year ago, and time spent watching programs on DVRs up to 15 days after they originally aired rose to 356 hours from 332 hours.
“The availability of more viewing options appealing to a wider array of tastes, in addition to the continued expansion of premium original scripted programming on cable networks, has likely contributed to this effect,” the comScore report said.
Earlier this year, comScore, which specialized in measuring web usage, acquired Rentrak, which uses set-top box data to gauge TV viewing.
Among millennials, time spent viewing live TV has been eclipsed by use of desktop computers and phones. Live TV still accounts for 47% of time spent.
“It’s possible that digital share of time spent among 25-54 year-olds might also soon surpass live TV," the report says.
comScore also says that the largest digital media properties can reach as big an audience as the Big 4 broadcasters in primetime. Google websites reach 247 million people per month, compared to 228 million for the top broadcast network.
The report adds that cross-media planning can break down silos and allow brands to more efficiently reach audience targets. ”Over the course of a month, a YouTube buy across desktop and mobile" has the potential to deliver 90% plus target reach when coupled with networks' primetime TV.
All of last year’s growth in time spent using digital media came from smartphones. Smartphone usage is up 78% since 2013, comScore said, while time spent on desktops and tablets were down.
Digital advertising has also been growing quickly and comScore says mobile advertising performs better than desktop advertising, particularly when it comes to generating purchase intent and likelihood to recommend.
But there are problems with digital advertising. About 10% of desktop users employ ad blockers, with the highest usage among 18-to-24-year-olds.
The report calls 52% of digital ad impressions are either not viewable or delivered to bots.
(Photo via Al Ibrahim's Flickr. Image taken on March 30, 2016 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)
